This paedophile headmaster abused children for 30 years - now his victims want to know why he was never prosecuted

A Devon mother is calling for a fresh inquiry into the case of Robin Lindsay who was branded a 'fixated paedophile' but was never charged. This report contains details of sexual abuse which some people may find distressing

The boys called him ‘Skunk’ because of the stink of cigar smoke on his breath. They lay terrified in their beds as he paced around their room in the dark, seeking out his next victim. The predatory paedophile was Robin Lindsay, the headmaster and owner of a Westcountry school.

The boys, from the age of seven, were sent into his care for up to five years. But what they found was described by one as a 'hell hole' - a regime of perversion, violence and sexual abuse.

Now victims are coming forward to talk about what happened to them and there are calls for a new inquiry into the scandal, including why Lindsay escaped prosecution.

Robin Lindsay teaching

Sherborne Preparatory School in Dorset was one of the country’s top private schools of its kind, where the elite paid thousands for their children to be readied to take their place at schools like Sherborne, Eton and Harrow. What their parents didn't know was that they were paying a paedophile who for 30 years preyed on the children he was supposed to be looking after.

His main targets were the boarders, around 40 of them, rather than the 100 day boys. The resident children lived in Netherton House, and Lindsay’s bedroom was on the same floor as their dormitory.

Lindsay joined the school in 1953 and took over from his father as headmaster in 1972. As owner as well as head, he seemed untouchable. Over the years police and social services investigated a series of complaints and allegations against him. Teachers tried to expose his reign of terror over the children, but he continually managed to escape the full force of the law.

Archive photo of Robin Lindsay the former headmaster of Sherborne Preparatory School in Dorset

It was only in 1998 that Lindsay, then aged 70, finally left, forced out by the Department for Education just short of his planned retirement. At a tribunal set up to hear allegations against him, he was described as a “fixated paedophile”, "a serious risk to children” and was banned from teaching.

The tribunal found that Lindsay weighed boys naked for the rugby team, was sexually abusive, walked about the school in his pyjamas often exposing himself, and repeatedly refused to move out of the boys' boarding accommodation.

It found three allegations of sexual assault not proven and ordered them to lie on file but decided there was enough evidence from police and officials for the ban to have been issued at least three years earlier.

Lindsay framed his departure as a retirement, and hundreds celebrated his career at a farewell service at Sherborne Abbey, despite damning reports in the local press. Some parents contacted the newspaper The Western Gazette criticising the coverage and expressing their support for the shamed teacher.

Lindsay always denied the allegations against him and died in July 2016, without facing prosecution.

Now after a TV documentary investigated what happened at Sherborne Preparatory School, the official version of events is being questioned. And more victims have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse following the report by journalist Alex Renton, called Boarding Schools: The Secret Shame, broadcast on ITV in February.

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Journalist Alex Renton on his investigation of a 'serial paedophile'

Journalist Alex Renton (Image: Courtesy of ITV's Exposure)

Mr Renton, who investigated a series of cases of sexual abuse of children at UK boarding schools, described Lindsay as a “serial paedophile”. He said: “It is an appalling case in terms of how long he did go on for, it is one of the worst, but I am not wholly surprised by it, I have seen similar cases.”

He added: “Often you get a very colourful, charismatic figure, who is much-loved. That is part of a high-functioning paedophile, and how they create a world where they are too important to be got rid of - they are charmers.

“Robin Lindsay clearly did not just groom children who he abused - he groomed parents, he groomed teachers - he was a groomer of the whole society around him.”

The victims and their families want answers as to how Lindsay was able to abuse children for so long - and how he managed to escape prosecution despite the authorities being aware of serious allegations against him, apparently dating back to the 1970s.

The number of victims could run into the hundreds, making it one of the largest child sex abuse scandals the UK has ever seen.

The school says it is co-operating with the authorities investigating the historic allegations, and the new charity which took over the school after Lindsay left in 1998 is "an entirely different legal, financial and governance entity to that which existed prior to the acquisition."

Sherborne Preparatory School in Dorset when Robin Lindsay was headmaster

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How a Devon mum took up the cause on behalf of her brothers

Years later, survivors of the Lindsay years began to share their stories in an online forum, finding the courage and support to be able to talk about the trauma that many had concealed since their childhood.

And their cause was taken up by mother-of-three Joanna Brittan, who now lives in Totnes in South Devon.

Joanna Brittan and her brother John (Image: ITV West Country)

Her three brothers went to the school at various times between 1972 and 1985. She believes the authorities had several missed chances of putting an end to Lindsay’s regime. But her own attempts to seek justice on behalf of her family ran into a wall of official silence.

It was only last year that her older brother John finally disclosed to her the abuse he had suffered at the school - confirming her instinctive suspicions about Lindsay.

John, who now lives in London and has waived his right to anonymity to help expose Lindsay’s abuse, recalled Lindsay watching the boys showering, and how the head would join them in the showers and weigh boys naked.

John said one night Lindsay came into the boys’ dormitory, put his hand inside John’s pyjama top and started rubbing his back.

John Brittan as a schoolboy

John recalled being told to stand in the head’s room as Lindsay stripped naked and got changed for games. John added: “He was always wandering around the dormitories in his pyjamas and dressing gown. I honestly have blocked so much out of this appalling hell hole, God knows if it went further, but sadly the damage stays with me.”

John also recalled the regime run by Lindsay gave rise to horrendous episodes of bullying and he reported incidents of sexual abuse by some children on others.

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Dorset Police explains why Lindsay was never prosecuted

Dorset Police said in a statement earlier this year that Lindsay was investigated three times, but never prosecuted.

And a senior investigator said some parents blocked police inquiries, refusing to allow their children to be interviewed.

The force said the first investigation was in 1986 when a boy alleged he was the victim of a serious sexual assault. Lindsay claimed the allegation was made maliciously.

The second investigation was in 1993 according to the police, and Lindsay admitted then that his physical intimacy with the boys was open to misinterpretation.

Dorset Police said former pupils came forward in 2014 and 2015 to report historic abuse. But when the force tried to interview him in 2016 he was suffering from dementia and an independent expert judged him unfit to be interviewed.

Former Dorset Police Chief Superintendent Gill Donnell told the ITV Exposure documentary that parents had hampered an investigation and refused to let officers speak to their children.

She told the programme: "The majority that I spoke to were very hesitant and some of them made it very clear that they were not going to let us talk to their children.

"It was said to me on more than one occasion that the most important thing for the parents was that their children went to the required public school and that anything that was done to endanger that, they weren't terribly supportive of at all.

"Their priority was about the future of their children, and not what may or may not have been happening to them at the time."

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Damning social report reveals serious concerns five years before Lindsay was banned

A report by Dorset social services following an inspection in 1993 was recently released to the news website Somerset Live following a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

The report confirms that the Department for Education and police had records regarding complaints about Lindsay's behaviour towards boarders in 1974, 1982, 1985 and 1986.

And a second social services report, from 1997, said to be "damning in the extreme", has been either lost or destroyed, the council said.

The 1993 report findings included:

The headmaster supervised children showering most evenings;

He watched them while they were in a state of undress;

He discouraged them from covering their bodies if they became embarrassed;

He insisted on them showering in a large group so that their bodies touched;

He sometimes hugged them tightly and smelt unpleasantly of cigar smoke;

A former pupil drew this floor plan showing Lindsay's bedroom and the boys' dormitories on the upper floor of Netherton House

They sometimes woke up in the mornings feeling cold and found the headmaster sitting on their beds, having pulled down their bedcovers. The headmaster would be sitting watching them in a way that made them feel uneasy;

He bounced up and down on boys or their beds;

He had invited boys into his bed during a skiing trip, and into his bed in his room at the school;

He often went into their dormitories at night, and asked 'is anyone awake'. If they were, he sat on their beds and rubbed them on the head or back;

He went about the hotel in scant clothing during the ski trip and invited groups of boys into his room to discuss the next days activities while he was dressing;

Boys did not want to enter the hotel swimming pool when the headmaster was in the pool, because they disliked his behaviour in the school;

Boys felt they could not tell their matron about the behaviour because they felt she would support the headmaster. Others said they could not tell their parents because they might not be believed;

Inspectors were told that in 1991, a boarder at the school complained to police he had been indecently assaulted during the night in his dormitory. He had originally told the headmaster, who dismissed his complaint as a dream.

When questioned about it, Lindsay told the inspector that a known individual had been entering the school, and he had attempted to take steps to prevent this.

Sherborne Preparatory School in Dorset when Robin Lindsay was headmaster

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The pupil told police the intruder was male, but wearing a wig, and smelt strongly of cigar smoke.

Staff at the school told inspectors they had seen the headmaster wear pyjamas while teaching pupils, while the matron of the girls’ dormitory recalled seeing the headmaster cross a corridor outside the boys’ dorm with his trousers unfastened.

Many of the staff were concerned he was placing himself in potentially compromising circumstances, but none suggested he had behaved improperly towards children, according to the report.

Concerned by what the pupils had told them, the inspectors contacted child protection services. A number of boys were interviewed at their homes - some parents consented to their children being interviewed, others refused access to them.

The majority of parent interviewed expressed confidence in Lindsay and his care and concern for pupils.

The report also reveals that Lindsay would listen in as pupils phoned their parents. He told inspectors he was monitoring conversations for 'welfare purposes'.

Pupils did not have free access to telephones, which were either locked away, or in school offices.

Robin Lindsay in a school photograph (Image: Courtesy of ITV's Exposure)

Lindsay admitted he had used corporal punishment in the past but would not use it without parental consent, and not in the case of girls. He did not keep a log of what punishments had been handed down, or what for.

Inspectors raised a series of concerns in the 37-page document including lack of proper documentation, inadequate staff selection and appointment procedures and inadequate written guidance, management, training and support for staff. Staffing arrangements for care and supervision of boarders and out of school activities were also inadequate.

The report also noted: "Boarders expressed disquiet during inspection about the Headmaster's behaviour towards them in the boarding house shower room and in their dormitories."

The inspectors said they had "serious reservations" about Lindsay's suitability as headmaster and recommended that he move out of boarding school accommodation and cease to be directly involved in the personal care of the children.

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How Lindsay was finally banned from the school in 1998

Dorset Social Services issued warnings to Lindsay in 1993 and 1997. The allegations against him became public knowledge at the tribunal hearing the following year, when David Elvin, a treasury barrister acting for the Department of Education and Employment, said: "There is clear and unequivocal evidence which does show that Mr Lindsay has engaged in conduct of a serious sexual nature, by definition abusive, of children and a gross violation of the principle of promoting the welfare of children.

The Western Gazette report on the tribunal outcome

"The department was satisfied there was sufficient evidence to raise a notice of complaint. Examples of his behaviour are not only sexual offences or sexual assault but also of acts which, in the view of experts, are planned and consistent with the acts of a paedophile and a persistent child-abuser.

"Mr Lindsay regrettably falls into the classic category of a child-abuser who seeks to gain the trust of parents, while at the same time taking such opportunities that he can obtain to indulge his proclivities."

Despite the tribunal finding him unfit to run a school and branding him a "fixated paedophile" and "a serious risk to children", parents of pupils at the school rallied to his defence.

When the Western Gazette reported on the allegations against him, parents at the school began to contact the paper in their hundreds, with one claiming: "His only fault is to have a little of the eccentricity that we British are famed for."

The letter writer continued: "You have denied this headmaster a dignified and happy start to his retirement."

A former pupil of the school contacted the paper to say: "I firmly believe that many of the allegations made against him, particularly those concerning inappropriate behaviour towards young boys have been blown out of proportion."

A follow-up report in the Western Gazette

Lindsay had planned to retire at the end of June 1998, but left early due to the tribunal ruling and the subsequent media coverage. A special commemorative event, designed to celebrate 75 years of the Lindsay family’s involvement in the school went ahead in Sherborne Abbey.

A crowd of 700 gathered to say goodbye to the head. He was presented with a bronze bust and gifts, there was a toast and a standing ovation, and the singing of ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’.

Lindsay’s planned successor as head apparently took over early instead of waiting for the new school year to start in September.

Archive photo of Robin Lindsay at his retirement event

Lindsay was banned from the school premises and later dropped an appeal against the tribunal ruling, he said to spare the school publicity of a contested hearing.

Lindsay said at the time he "categorically denied" the allegations against him. He said they described "events which simply did not take place,” telling the Western Gazette newspaper: “The welfare and happiness of the children in the school and those who have been there has been the prime objective of my life."

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What happened after Robin Lindsay left

Lindsay sold the school for £1 to a new company set up by the rector of Sherborne, Canon Eric Woods, who became chairman of a new board of governors on June 19, alongside the heads of Sherborne School and Sherborne School for Girls. The new company was given charitable status and pupil numbers eventually recovered.

Lindsay retired to a four-bedroom house in Richmond Road, overlooking the school playing fields. He sold that house in 2009 and moved into a local hotel.

Victims tell of the abuse they suffered

New allegations against Lindsay came to light in the ITV documentary. Journalist Alex Renton interviewed three former pupils of Sherborne Preparatory School including John Brittan, who spoke out about the abuse they suffered.

Journalist Alex Renton studies the archives of the Western Gazette in Yeovil (Image: Courtesy of ITV's Exposure)

They told how Lindsay watched boys in the showers, groped them, and rubbed them down with ointment if they were injured.

One told of being held down in his bed while Lindsay performed a sex act over him.

Another said that when he tried to talk to his parents, his allegations were dismissed and ignored.

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Statement from Sherborne Preparatory School about the Lindsay case

Following the broadcast of the documentary, Nigel Jones, Chairman of the Governing Board of Sherborne Preparatory School, said it was working with the relevant authorities in relation to the historic allegations.

His statement said: “The Governors and all those now involved with the School find the matters raised in the allegations totally abhorrent, irrespective of the era in which they are alleged to have taken place, and have every sympathy for any victims and survivors who were subjected to such abuse.

“Sherborne Preparatory School was acquired in 1998 by the current charity from the previous owner, and as such is now an entirely different legal, financial and governance entity to that which existed prior to the acquisition.

“We take the welfare of current and former pupils extremely seriously and we are working with the relevant authorities in relation to allegations.”

He said the school would support any initiative by the independent school associations to assist victims.

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Sister's campaign for justice

In 2011 Joanna Brittan decided to mount a legal challenge on the basis Lindsay had groomed and defrauded her father, by accepting money under the false pretence that his sons would be safe and well looked after. She had seen a headline on the internet about Lindsay being removed from the school in 1998 and described as a 'fixated paedophile', but was unable to find out any more details of the circumstances.

She instructed solicitors to investigate the case, but their request for information from the Independent Safeguarding Authority was turned down, citing the Data Protection Act.

She first approached Sherborne Preparatory School in March 2011, then again in April 2016, asking for information about Lindsay. Ms Brittan is dissatisfied with the responses from the school, which she says offered no information about the Lindsay case.

Ms Brittan said: “There were so many missed chances to properly investigate and prosecute Robin Lindsay. I feel my father and my family were completely betrayed by him and then let down by all the investigating authorities, who all seemed so powerless, and I’m now determined to get to the bottom of what happened and why. The victims deserve recognition and justice.”

Ms Brittan has been in touch with a former teacher at the school, who told her he went to the police with a colleague in 1985 to report allegations of abuse by Lindsay.

But she says he told her he was warned off and threatened by the then chairman of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools, and the matter was not pursued.

The chairman at the time was Robin Peverett, headmaster of Dulwich Preparatory School in Kent for 30 years until his retirement in 1990. Ten years later, then aged 66, Peverett admitted nine counts of indecent assault on girls and a boy aged 11 to 13 between 1969 and 1978 and was given an 18-month suspended sentence at Maidstone Crown Court.

Ms Brittan has also been told of two incidents of abuse in the 1970s which she believes to have been reported to the police.

And she has another personal reason for her anguish about what happened at Sherborne Preparatory School.

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The Middle East connection?

Peter Brittan

Joanna Brittan's father, Major Peter Brittan, first went out to Qatar in 1971 and helped establish the Qatar Emiri Air Force.

The former Britannia Royal Naval College naval officer cadet and Fleet Air Arm pilot was forced to medically retire from the Armed Forces and went on to become chief test pilot for the Qataris, seeing action during the Gulf War.

Mr Brittan sent his three sons to Sherborne Prep and two of them on to Sherborne School, when he and their mother were living in Qatar.

He was a regular visitor to Lindsay’s prep school, as well as to Sherborne Boys and Sherborne Girls, where his four children were educated at various times.

Some visits coincided with a period when he led delegations from Qatar to negotiate buying helicopters from Westland, based at Yeovil, just a few miles from Sherborne, whilst staying at the Post House Hotel in the Dorset town.

Peter Brittan

Ms Brittan believes that her father’s links to Qatar, and his recommendations of the Sherborne school system to the state’s rulers, was one of the influences that prepared the ground for the eventual establishment in 2009 of Sherborne Qatar - an independent school based on the Sherborne model with junior and senior departments, in the Qatar capital Doha.

Members of the Qatari ruling family, including current emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, were sent to Sherborne International, a satellite of the senior school, which offers an intensive education for overseas students whose first language is not English. The promotion of British education as a potentially lucrative export was championed by Prince Andrew the year before Sherborne Qatar opened.

Qatar has the highest per capita income in the world, its wealth deriving from gas exports. The nation, which hosts a giant U.S. military base, has been politically isolated by other Middle East states including Saudi Arabia, who accuse it of being too close to Iran and Islamist groups including ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood.

A helicopter production line for the EH101 at Westland in Yeovil, which was developed in the 1980s

Sherborne School, an independent senior school which includes Coldplay singer Chris Martin and actor Jeremy Irons among its former pupils, has no connection with Sherborne Preparatory School.

Sherborne School headmaster Dominic Luckett said Sherborne School and Sherborne Preparatory School were and always had been entirely distinct legal and charitable entities.

He pointed out that Sherborne School owned five per cent of Sherborne Qatar, with the rest being Qatari-owned. Dr Luckett said it received an annual royalty for the use of the Sherborne School name and brand and for educational advice and guidance.

He told Devon Live: “In common with everyone at Sherborne School, I have the deepest sympathies for any child or adult who has been the subject of abuse. We also have great admiration for the courage of those survivors who have spoken out and reported abuse or maltreatment.”

In relation to the establishment of Sherborne Qatar, Dr Luckett added he was unaware “of anything that suggests any linkage between events at SPS during Robin Lindsay’s time as proprietor and the discussions that led to the establishment of SQ a decade later.”

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The campaign for a new investigation

Ms Brittan is now keen for the Sherborne Preparatory School case to be taken up by Operation Hydrant, the hub set up by the National Police Chiefs’ Council to co-ordinate inquiries into historic sexual abuse allegations in institutions. The call for an investigation has been taken up by West Dorset’s Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin.

Ms Brittan has also raised the allegations with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the wide-ranging inquiry set up by the Government, which has included abuse at state and independent schools in the scope of its remit.

And she has made a complaint to Dorset Police about its handling of the allegations against Robin Lindsay.

Ms Brittan is supporting the Mandate Now campaign, which wants a new law making it a requirement for staff working in 'Regulated Activities' including schools to report allegations of sexual abuse to the relevant local authority.

Martyn Underhill, Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner

Dorset’s Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill has ruled out a fresh inquiry into the case. He said in a statement: “Having examined this matter closely, I concluded that a new inquiry will not further justice.”

He added: “I am satisfied that all opportunities to identify further possible victims of crime were pursued.”

The full statement from Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill

I am aware of the recent documentary on alleged sexual abuse in the 1980s and 1990s in relation to the former headmaster at Sherborne Prep, Robin Lindsay. It is sadly clear to see that in the period in question, safeguarding arrangements in pockets of our society did not meet modern standards.

Naturally, this raised concerns among my constituents and I have sought further detail in relation to whether the Force considers it should undertake further action, or whether the Chief Constable and I should seek an external review from another Force. Having examined this matter closely, I concluded that a new inquiry will not further justice.

Mr Lindsay was the owner of the school, without any form of scrutiny or supervision. I am informed that detectives spoke to all parents and pupils during the original investigation, however, some of the parents who were approached refused to engage for reasons only known to them. At that time, police were unable to identify suitable evidence for a prosecution. I am satisfied that all opportunities to identify further possible victims of crime were pursued.

I was aware at the time of the new enquiry in 2014, when a new allegation was made, Mr Lindsay was deemed medically unfit by an independent specialist. The accused is now deceased and therefore no further charges can be sought.

In considering the need for any inquiry, it is right and proper to assess what can be gained. In the decades since the alleged sexual abuse, I am confident that arrangements have vastly improved and obstacles that prevented officers from gaining access to interview pupils at the school in the 1980s and 1990s do not exist today.

A considerable amount of learning has been obtained already in the initial investigations and in the reviews. Furthermore, this case was referred to the national operation, Operation Hydrant which is the co-ordination hub established in June 2014 to deliver the national policing response, oversight and co-ordination of non-recent child sexual abuse investigations concerning persons of public prominence or in relation to those offences which took place within institutional settings.

In the latest Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) PEEL Effectiveness report Dorset Police again received the grading ‘good’ for its approach to keeping people safe and protecting them from harm. The report commended the creation of the police impact team, where officers work with other agencies to safeguard vulnerable children at risk of sexual exploitation and of going missing, as an example of good operating procedures.

I am satisfied that lessons have been learned and my absolute priority therefore must be ensuring that victims always come forward to police and receive support from organisations that can help. My Office commissions a full time Child and Young Person Independent Sexual Violence Advisor, as well as counselling for victims of child sexual abuse via the Dorset Rape Crisis Support Centre. I am also proud to be able to support the charity Acts Fast, which delivers support to non-perpetrating family members of children who have been the subject of abuse.

If you have been a victim or know someone who has, there are various organisations who can help:

These organisations can offer support to anyone affected by the issues raised in this article

NAPAC offers support to adult survivors of all types of childhood abuse.

Victim Support offers free and confidential services to anyone in England and Wales who has experienced sexual assault or rape now or in the past. You can call the Victim Supportline, which operates 24/7, on 0808 168 9111.

Boarding Concern offers support to former boarders and boarding school survivors.